Dukes fall to La Salle, 73-72, in Philadelphia nail-biter

Coming off of a 74-66 come-from-behind victory over Fordham Feb. 10, the Duquesne men’s basketball team fell to the streaking La Salle Explorers on Feb. 13 in Philadelphia, 73-72.

La Salle (8-15, 6-5), winners of five of its last six games, escaped with the victory after graduate guard Pookie Powell scored on a driving layup with five seconds left in regulation.

Following Powell’s bucket, Duquesne called a timeout and drew up a full-court inbound play.

After the timeout, Dukes guard Frankie Hughes in-bounded the ball to a cutting Eric Williams Jr. with only 4.6 seconds remaining. The sophomore swing-man strode down the left side of the court and shot a floating jump-shot off the glass, but the attempt narrowly rimmed out.

Powell led all scorers with 25 points, including a 4-6 clip from 3-point land. Sophomore forward Mike Hughes led Duquesne (16-9, 7-5) with 18 points, while sophomore Marcus Weathers had 16 and Williams added 15.

Notably, freshman guard Lamar Norman Jr. returned to Duquesne’s lineup. He had been sidelined with a concussion.

Next, Duquesne faces George Washington (7-17, 3-8) on Saturday at 12 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on NBCSN.